“No one really knows who first held a beautifully shaped natural stone in his hand and saw in its shape a resemblance to a miniature mountain, waterfall or small animal. But we do know that as far back as the reign of the Empress Suiko in Japan (AD 593‐628) Chinese visitors presented stones of rare shapes set on individual trays to their hosts.” NYT 1976
Rocks! Personally I love them but then I am attempting to create a Japanese style garden and rocks (often referred to as stones when removed from their environment) are an essential component. And today is International Rock Day – so we are going to make them a subject of our poems. And perhaps not surprisingly they feature in many renowned published poems as here in this extract from Kathleen Raine’s “Rock”
And in this final stanza Herbert Morris vividly conjures “The Rocks”
And last but not least, “Tai Lake Rocks” moved Bai Juyi to write poetry, translated thus:
“Emerald green mists and several autumn colors
Large waves left ten thousand ancient marks
Scraped and whittled to produce flat shards of green jade
If sliced into pieces, they become like the offspring of bluish-green clouds.
Wind erosion leads to their holes and crags
Moss penetrates or covers to guard their openings
Specific younger versions of several mountain peaks
Are like the grandchildren of Mt. Hua.“
So as I intimated at the beginning, not only are we going to be writing about rocks but also to complement the theme, we are taking one of the Japanese forms of poetry
–The Imayo* – and this is its structure:
- 4 lines (8 lines permissible)
- 12 syllables per line divided as7/5
- make a pause space between the 7 and 5 syllables
- use comma, caesura or kireji (cutting word) as the pause
- no rhymes
- no meter
- no end of line pauses – the whole should flow together as though one long sentence
Please Note: Your subject must be the noun ‘rock/rocks’ (can be interchanged with stone)
It is the geological mineral NOT the music!
It is a literal poem so do not use symbolism, allegory etc
Suggestions: Write about a favourite rock on a beach or moor or mountain. Maybe its the menhirs of Stonehenge or other such monoliths. Maybe its a treasured stone you picked up somewhere. If at a loss, use a photo or painting and write it as ekphrastic – and yes you might like to illustrate your poem with an image.
*See The Imayo poem type
When you have published your poem according to the guidelines above, add it to the Mr Linky below and go visiting other contributors as that is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I think this was an excellent form… I had never heard about it, but I think it was a joy to write.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
that’s good to know – it took me a while to get into but I’m not much of a syllable counter
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
And I now realize I wrote them as 5/7 instead of 7/5… sorry about that.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
I think I read somewhere that that is an alternative option – not sure
Laura Bloomsbury said:
Hello Poets – as we’re just back from a break this is a short poem so as not to tax the Muse – 12 syllables as a nod to our anniversary – so rock on(1) and the bar speciality tonight is any shorts on the rocks or whatever else you may like
kim881 said:
Good evening all on International Rock Day, and thanks to Laura for this challenging prompt! I love rocks and, when we lived very close to a beach, I often collected the more interesting ones. We have a lot of fossils around here too.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
like four leaf clovers I never seem to find fossils
rothpoetry said:
Thanks for hosting, Laura. I love it. Geology and rocks have always fascinated me. I will see what I can do!
Laura Bloomsbury said:
I’m with you on the Geology front Dwight and will stop by soon to read yours
rothpoetry said:
Great!!
Rob Kistner said:
Thank you for hosting Laura. Your commitment to dVerse is rock steady. Interesting prompt you’ve rolled out this Thursday. Busy today, but I will think hard on the topic, and throw out an idea tomorrow. 🙂✌🏼
Laura Bloomsbury said:
love the pun Rob thank you
Rob Kistner said:
While I waited in the parking garage for my wife to be finished at her oncologist, I mentally edited an old piece I felt was a good basis for your prompt. When I got home I wrote it out. It works. Now I am going to finish a surreal art piece I started last week that I think will fit perfectly. I will post after dinner.
Rob Kistner said:
New poem with new art is now posted. 👍🏼✌🏼🫶🏼
Laura Bloomsbury said:
it was well worth the wait!
merrildsmith said:
Thank you for the prompt and for hosting, Laura. I’m not really a fan of syllable counting, so this took some effort. I hope I did it correctly! 🙂
Laura Bloomsbury said:
you can certainly count Merril – I too struggle with the syllable restrictions
merrildsmith said:
🙂
rothpoetry said:
Somehow the first entry went to my editing site. Please delete that one. The second one is correct. Thank you!
Laura Bloomsbury said:
done 🙂
rothpoetry said:
Thank you very much!
Helen said:
A great challenge, Laura! I am also back from a jaunt to our spectacular Oregon Coast! Long, long walks on the beach and lots of exploration.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
it certainly inspired you Helen
msjadeli said:
Hello Laura and All. Sorry so late to the pub. Dream class today plus I’ve been bumming rides all week after having my car towed on Tuesday. Excellent prompt. I could talk about rocks all day long. We have a fantastic Japanese Garden(s) in Grand Rapids that is a sheer joy to walk through. New form to me; I kept it pretty simple due to time constraints.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
you must be feeling hidebound without your car and that feeds into your slippery poem perhaps as wish fulfilment?!
p.s. my Japanese garden is a hybrid as cannot do justice to the Oriental mindset
msjadeli said:
It was so inconvenient and had to beg rides from people this week. Perhaps, Laura.
The Meijer Garden Japanese Garden in Grand Rapids is also a hybrid of garden and sculpture park. A marvelous place to wander and get lost. https://www.meijergardens.org/attractions/japanese-garden
pvcann said:
This was lovely to discover Laura, many thanks for the intro to Imayo.